Publix: How to best use free product coupons

This week at Publix, I was happy to see that Barilla pasta was on sale again.  A few weeks ago, Mueller's pasta was on sale with coupons, and I bought a bunch.  Then the next week Barilla was on sale with coupons.  I bought a couple of boxes, but hoped that it would go on sale again before the coupons expired.  And lo and behold, it did!  Yay!

I also used a neat trick: if you have coupons for free products, don't just go out and use them (unless they're about to expire, of course.)  Instead, hold them until a week when you have a $X/$XX coupon but don't have enough deals to use the dollars-off coupon.  I did that this week - my total was under $50, so I used a coupon for a free Farm Rich product which I had from when I did a Farm Rich review.   With the free product, my pre-coupon total went over $50, and I could use the $5 off $50 coupon from Recyclebank.

Here's what I got:


2 President feta @ BOGO $5.39
- 2 $1/1 President Feta or Valbrso Feta Cheese printable
= $3.39 for two, or $1.70 each

1 Farm Rich mozzarella sticks @ $5.99
- FREE Farm Rich product (max value $6.99)
= FREE

2 Birds Eye Chef's Favorites @ $2.59, 50% off = $2.59
- 2 $0.50/1 Birds Eye Chef's Favorites printable
= $1.59 for two, or 80¢ each

10 Del Monte tomatoes @ $1.00 = $10.00
- 2 $1/5 Del Monte Canned Vegetables or Tomatoes, exp. 8/5/12 (RP 05/13/12 R)
= $8.00 for ten, or 80¢ each

2 Ragu sauce @ BOGO $2.67
- $0.40/2 Ragu Pasta Sauce, exp. 8/26/12 (RP 07/29/12 R)
= $2.27 for two, or $1.14 each

6 Kellogg's Special K @ BOGO $4.39 = $13.17
- 2 $1/3 Special K manufacturer's coupon
- 2 $1/3 Kellogg's cereal Target coupon
= $9.17 for six, or $1.53 each

12 Barilla pasta @ BOGO $1.65 = $9.90
- 6 $0.55/2 Barilla Blue Box Pasta, exp. 8/19/12 (SS 06/24/12)
=  $6.60 for twelve, or 55¢ each

1 Fleishmann's yeast, 4 oz @ $4.99

- $5 off $50 Doris Italian Market coupon (Recyclebank)

Total out of pocket: $32.31
Total saved compared to Publix full prices: $63.31

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